Microsoft will release the first service pack for Windows Vista in Q1 2008 and the company has revealed that test versions of the update are currently 1GB; Redmond also admitted it is working on Windows XP SP3.

As for what's in the Vista update, it's mostly a collection of existing fixes and tweaks aimed at improving stability and reliability of the operating system, which went on sale to consumers this January.

Toshiba unleashes 32-GB SD cards

Storage options for devices such as cell phones, digital cameras, and portable media players are changing. While it used to be that you could buy a small SD card for a bit of storage, deferring to spinning hard disks when you needed more, that's no longer the case. With expandable storage options changing, platter-based drives are going out and flash drives are going in. Now that sizes of SD cards are getting bigger, people will be swapping them out of players and phones like CDs.

Just take a look at these new Toshiba SD cards. They're the first to hit a whopping 32 GB, which is bigger than most

hard disk-based MP3 players. Imagine popping one of those in your digital camera; you'd never, ever run out of room.

And you could keep your entire music collection on one or two of them, swapping them out in your phone or player to

never be without your tunes. It's pretty great, and as soon as prices come down a bit look for them to be

Pentagon email hacked

THE Pentagon said computer hackers gained access to an unclassified email system in the office of US

Defence Secretary Robert Gates, but declined comment on a report that the Chinese army was responsible.

China denied reports its military was behind a e system breach at the Pentagon

The security breach occurred late last spring when Defence Department monitors detected the penetration of "elements of an unclassified email system" that was immediately taken off line, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.

The email system, in the office of the secretary of defence, did not return to full operation for up to three weeks.

"There was never any threat to the classified systems," Mr Whitman said.

"There was no disruption to (defence) operations or adverse impact to ongoing operations that the department was conducting … all precautionary measures were taken and the system was restored to service," he said.

Whitman spoke after the Financial Times newspaper quoted current and former US officials as saying that Chinese People's Liberation Army hackers broke into a Defence Department network in June and removed data.

VIRGIN mobile's new wireless broadband customers were left without internet services for at least five

hours this morning, the company has confirmed.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Mobile said the outage started sometime between 3am and 7am this morning, and was restored at around 8am, an hour after technical staff returned to the carrier's broadband operation centre.

Virgin's technicians were not present to monitor the outage or restore the HSDPA broadband service when it occurred, the company said.

"Virgin Mobile does not have the exact time when the outage occurred on hand at this time," the spokeswoman said.

Microsoft has released a test, or "beta," version of a free online software package available that includes version of email, instant messaging, photo gallery, blogging software and a security program.

The suite of web services – available at http://get.live.com/wl/all – will also automatically update with improvements or new versions of those applications.

Microsoft said the software lays the foundation for other integrated Windows Live services due out in the "coming months."

The world's largest software maker aims to extend its dominance in desktop software running on computer hard drives into a new world of services delivered through a web browser.

However, it faces a nimble and deep-pocketed rival in Google, which is also attempting to deliver an integrated experience using a single log-in to offer email, calendar, productivity software and other services.

NBC backs away from iTunes

NBC Universal has decided not to renew its contract to sell television shows on iTunes, becoming the

second major media company to challenge Apple dominance in digital entertainment.

Apple says NBC wanted to treble its wholesale price for TV content

Apple said NBC had sought to more than double the wholesale rate for each show, which Apple said would have forced its iTunes online store to raise what it charged consumers to $US4.99 per ($6.08) TV show episode from $US1.99.

"We are disappointed to see NBC leave iTunes because we would not agree to their dramatic price increase," Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes, said.

NBC Universal disputed Apple's claim it had demanded double the wholesale price for its shows, adding that its focus was on more flexibility including the ability to package shows together.

Apple said it has decided not to offer shows for download from NBC's upcoming season beginning in September, including such popular series as "Heroes." NBC also disputed this and said its new shows would be available through the duration of the contract, which expires at the end of December.

NBC Universal, which is controlled by General Electric, is the No. 1 supplier of digital video to iTunes.

Viacom, Walt Disney, Time Warner and News Corp also supply television programs to iTunes.

» 11 Neuroscientists Debunk a Common Myth about Brain Training « Brain Fitness Revolution at Sharp Last Monday, NPR (very good US-based radio station) had a program on "do brain training programs work?" that reflected very old-fashioned thinking. In short, the guest speakers talked and talked about the importance of nutrition and physical exercise (both very important, as we have covered in this blog multiple times), and expressed skepticism about the concept of exercising our brains to improve attention, memory and other skills… I guess it takes a while to change old mental paradigms (And yes, some programs work better than others).

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